


What If I Open Up My Heart (And Somehow We Stumble Into Something Real)

by love_stella



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Asexual Character, Getting Together, M/M, Multi, boys being soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-10-27 20:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17773877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_stella/pseuds/love_stella
Summary: “We’ve gotta do something to make him realize how much we love him,” Nick says.“Yeah I know, it breaks my heart that he thinks we won’t want him forever,” Lawson says. “We’ll figure it out, take him on the best dates and show him how much we care.”“Sounds like a plan,” Nick promises, and Lawson can’t help but wrap his boyfriend in a tight hug at how unsure he still sounds.or4 dates Nick and Law took Dylan on to make him feel loved +1 time they stayed in





	What If I Open Up My Heart (And Somehow We Stumble Into Something Real)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gravityinglass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gravityinglass/gifts).



> IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW IS MENTIONED IN THIS FIC TURN AWAY NOW AND SAVE US SO MUCH EMBARRASSMENT 
> 
> brief warnings for dylan not loving himself as much as law and nick love him, if i missed anything let me know. 
> 
>  
> 
> thanks to the usual suspects for reading this over for me i love you all

_ Prologue (Lawson) _

Lawson and Nick have been trying to figure out why Dylan’s been avoiding them ever since they asked him to be their boyfriend, turning down chances to play Fortnite —well, Dylan calls it playing but Lawson calls it dying— and sometimes going hours without returning text messages, if he returns them at all. Lawson knows Dylan well enough to know that something’s up, and he doesn’t think it’s just that he doesn’t want to date them, it has to be something more serious. The threatening text messages from Ryan Strome don’t make Lawson feel any better either. 

It takes Dylan a week to agree to meet them for lunch, and Lawson would be lying if he said he didn’t let out a few tears of relief when they set things up, not that Nick was any better, that dumb smile of his threatening to break his face in half. 

Dylan’s already at the restaurant when Lawson and Nick walk in 15 minutes before they all planned on meeting, and judging from the balled up napkins at Dylan’s feet, he’s nervous and as horrible as Lawson feels about it, the fact that Dylan’s nervous calms his own nerves a little. 

“So, we’re talking about this right,” Nick says to break the awkward silence. “It’s ok if you don’t want to date us and you don’t owe us an explanation or anything and if you need more time to think about it that’s alright too.”

“Yeah, we don’t want to pressure you or anything, we just want to make sure you’re ok,” Lawson says, holding Nick’s hand tightly under the table. 

“It’s...complicated,” Dylan starts.

“We’re listening if you want to tell us,” Nick says, and Lawson’s so glad his boyfriend is here with him and he’s not doing this by himself.    

“You won’t want me anymore,” Dylan cries, and Lawson would give anything to reach over and wipe his tears away but right now he doesn’t think it would be appreciated. 

“Hey, what are you talking about?” Lawson says, because he can’t fathom a universe where he’s not in love with Dylan William Strome. 

“I won’t fuck either of you,” Dylan blurts out, immediately covering his face with his hands. “I don’t like sex and there’s nothing I can do to change that I’m sorry.” 

Lawson and Nick share a look, both confused as to why that matters before realizing that Dylan’s started to cry harder at his confession. 

“Well I still love you, what about you Law?” Nick says after a minute, and Lawson’s surprised he doesn’t get whiplash with how fast he’s nodding his head right now. 

“Yeah same,” Lawson says. 

“I don’t-” 

With that, Dylan runs out of the room before Lawson can even blink or think of a response. 

“We’ve gotta do something to make him realize how much we love him,” Nick says. 

“Yeah I know, it breaks my heart that he thinks we won’t want him forever,” Lawson says. “We’ll figure it out, take him on the best dates and show him how much we care.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Nick promises, and Lawson can’t help but wrap his boyfriend in a tight hug at how unsure he still sounds. 

 

_ Dylan _

1.

Dylan’s in bed when he gets a text from Lawson telling him to be ready to go out in an hour. Apparently, he and Nick have a surprise for him and he’s tired enough not to question it before saying that he’ll be ready when they stop by. 

Lawson refuses to tell him where they’re going and Nick’s taken Lawson’s side in the secrecy pact so Dylan is forced to sit in Lawson’s car while they head to wherever they’re going. 

Nick breaks halfway through the drive, telling Dylan that they’re going to the aquarium on a trial date. 

“Just let us do this for you, no pressure,” Lawson says. “If it doesn’t go well we won’t ask again.” 

“It’ll be fun, we promise,” Nick agrees. 

“As long as we get to see Davo,” Dylan jokes, unable to resist the joke.

“Don’t worry, we’ll see the otters,” Lawson promises, “Feeding time is at noon, we’ll be able to watch if you want to.”

There are several touch pools that Lawson looks entirely too excited to stick his hands in, and Dylan wants badly enough for this date to go well that he’s willing to indulge Lawson and touch whatever sea creatures there are. Lawson drags them over to the swell shark touch pool first, Nick seems reluctant to touch a shark but Dylan thinks it looks harmless enough to give it a try especially with the way the aquarium employee —Marge, according to her nametag— reaches her hands into the water and slowly pulls the shark up to the top of the water where they can touch it. 

Lawson’s the first to reach out and run his fingers along the shark’s back, mouth opening in a wide ‘o’ at whatever he’s feeling. Before Dylan knows it it’s his turn to touch the shark, and he’s pretty sure he’s making the same face Lawson made. He’s not sure what he thought a shark would feel like, but he definitely didn’t think it would feel this smooth. That small stroke down the shark’s back is all he gets before the shark thrashes out of Marge’s hands and swims directly to where Nick is standing before splashing him with water. Nick sputters and Lawson and Dylan don’t bother to hide their laughter, Lawson saying that “that’s what you get for being chicken.” 

“So much for being my caring boyfriends,” Nick pouts, taking the towel Marge gives him and wiping his face before chucking the towel at Lawson’s head. 

“Ohhh let’s go to that one next,” Lawson pleads, and there’s no way Dylan’s going to say no to that face. 

This touch pool has a variety of things; Dylan gets his finger hugged by the spines of a sea urchin, Lawson jerks his hand back in shock when the sea anemone’s tentacles move when he touches them, and Nick manages to run his fingers over the back of a starfish before wiping his wet hand on Lawson’s shirt. 

True to Lawson’s word, there are otters and by the time the three of them walk to their exhibit, the otters are having a ball smacking hunks of ice against the glass trying to get fish out of the center of the ice. 

“Look at that little guy go,” Nick whispers as a particularly feisty otter breaks half its fish free. 

“That one’s definitely not Davo, he would’ve broken his paw against the glass,” Dylan laughs. “That’s gotta be Brinksy, he’s an angry small boy.” 

“Oh no that one dropped his ball,” Lawson says, sounding about ready to cry before the otter darts deeper into the tank to retrieve its lunch. 

“Now that one’s Davo,” Nick says, and Dylan agrees, that was such a captain move it’s not even funny. 

They watch the otters until a little kid bumps into Dylan’s legs trying to get a better look, and he figures that’s their cue to leave so other people get a chance to see the otters trying to free their food. 

It’s crowded enough that Dylan doesn’t question it when Nick grabs his hand so they don’t get separated on their way to the penguin exhibit. It makes him feel better to see that Lawson’s got Nick’s hand in his as he leads the way, like there’s less pressure to the gesture than there would be if it was just Nick holding his hand. 

Dylan’s not sure how long they stand their watching the penguins, seeing them swim around and preen their feathers —Dylan’s not even going to pretend that they’re nearly as interesting as the otters but again he’s biased— but Nick must catch him yawning because he gives Lawson a nudge and tells him that “it’s time to see the fish and then we’ve gotta head out, we’ve been here for hours.” 

Dylan’s sad to see that the exhibits are too crowded to actually  _ see _ most of the fish in the smaller tanks but they do get to see the larger coral reef exhibit and the deep sea exhibit and that’s honestly enough for Dylan. 

“Look at that absolute unit,” Lawson exclaims as a massive stone colored fish slowly swims by. 

“He’s a big boy,” Dylan agrees.

“Massive,” Nick agrees, taking out his phone to get a picture of it. 

“We should probably head out,” Lawson says, and Dylan knows he’s right because they’ve seen all there is to see. “But we’ve gotta go to the gift shop first.”

“Sounds good bro,” Nick says. 

Nick ends up buying Dylan a stuffed otter clutching a starfish in its paws, and Lawson, not to be outdone, buys Dylan a giant stuffed whale shark because “I saw you looking at it so I had to get it for you,” and Dylan can’t argue with that logic. 

Dylan makes sure to cuddle each of the stuffies before hugging his dates and making the stuffies give them kisses on their cheeks and the blush on Lawson’s face and the smile on Nick’s make the scene he just caused worth it. 

He does the same thing before they drop him off at his apartment, and this time Lawson kisses the shark on the forehead and Nick gives the otter a giant hug before they hug Dylan goodbye. As soon as he’s safely inside his apartment he shoots the group chat a text saying that he “had tons of fun we should do it again sometime <3” even though a voice in the back of his head says that they’re only taking him out to be nice and not because they’re really interested in a guy like him. 

 

2.

Dylan’s not done changing out of his practice gear when he looks up and sees Lawson hovering over him with a look that Dylan’s only ever seen when Lawson is nervous, which is weird because Dylan’s the last guy who should ever make him nervous. 

“Sup Law?” Dylan asks, because clearly Lawson isn’t going to break the silence first. 

“D’you wanna get lunch with me and Nick once you’re dressed?” Lawson mutters, and if Dylan wasn’t fluent in Crouse he probably would have missed have the question. 

“Sure, the usual place?” Dylan asks, “You’ve always wanted to try their special but we always get there too late, maybe they’ll have it today.”

“Cool, meet us at Nick’s car, he’ll drive,” Lawson tells him before quickly walking away and heading straight for Nick’s back. 

Dylan tries to ignore how Lawson and Nick immediately huddle up and start whispering at each other while randomly looking in his direction, but the smiles on both their faces are enough to make him blush and hide his burning cheeks in his knees while he finishes taking his skates off.

By the time he’s done changing Lawson and Nick are nowhere to be seen, so Dylan decides to go out to the parking lot where he finds the boys leaning against Nick’s car waiting for him. Dylan swears his heart doesn’t skip a beat at the way both of their faces light up and if he starts walking a little faster no one needs to know. 

Their usual place is a local pizza joint a few blocks from the arena —Dylan’s honestly not sure why they didn’t just walk because the image of the three of them walking shoulder to shoulder is  far too appealing but like hell he’s going to be the one suggesting it— and it’s quiet enough that no one is going to bother three dudes sharing a pizza. 

Dylan’s not sure if this is a  _ date  _ date or just bros having lunch with each other and again, he’s not going to bring it up unless they say something first, but a large part of him wants desperately for this to be a date so he’s just going to shut that part up for now.  

“Shit they’re out of the special and it’s not even 1 yet,” Lawson says, pointing to where the chalkboard sign has “special” crossed out. 

“Oh no, I’m sorry bud,” Nick says, wrapping his arm around Lawson’s middle before quickly letting go. 

“We can just get our usual, that’s still good, right Nick?” Dylan says, doing his best to make his friend feel better. 

“Right, Law maybe you’ll save us more than a couple pieces,” Nick jokes. 

“That was  _ one time _ ,” Lawson whines, and he’s right, it was only the one time that he got carried away on a post-game pizza binge and ate almost the entire pizza, but Dylan and Nick aren’t ever going to let him forget it. 

Dylan’s eaten with them enough to know that all the mushrooms on his slice go on Lawson’s plate and the bell peppers go on Nick’s plate while they put all the olives on his own plate, it’s a comfortable routine that should be calming his nerves yet it somehow isn’t. 

Lawson pouts when Nick takes the hidden olive on his slice and gently places it on Dylan’s slice, but relents when Nick points out that “it’s only fair, we’re taking his toppings he deserves his favorite.” 

“‘T’s just one olive,” he whines, then shuts up when Dylan feels the table bump, Nick must have kicked Lawson to shut him up or something and this is just so  _ them _ that Dylan can’t help but put the olive back on Lawson’s plate to make him smile. 

Once the toppings have been properly doled out they settle in and eat their slices, letting the conversation comfortably come and go in between chew-filled silences, and Dylan was right, something about this is different, because Lawson keeps pushing more olives onto Dylan’s plate even though Dylan has no idea where Lawson got extra olives from until he sees a small plastic container hidden behind Lawson’s drink, filled with olives, and that’s definitely not their normal routine. 

Nick keeps checking on him too, making sure he’s got enough water and doesn’t want any of his pizza, and Dylan’s almost feeling brave enough to ask if it’s a date until the small part of him that he can’t help but listen to tells him that  _ this would never be a date, why would they want you, you’re useless to them romantically _ , and that thought keeps him quiet. 

Before Dylan knows it, the pizza is gone and the waitress is dropping their check off, and he’s quickly shushed when he starts to pull out his wallet. 

“Dude, this is a date, no way you’re paying,” Lawson says. 

“Unless...you don’t want it to be a date,” Nick whispers, and Dylan’s heart breaks at how unsure Nick sounds about Dylan wanting this to be a date. “We’ll still pay though, our treat.” 

“No,” Dylan says, and he really should’ve thought things through before he started to speak, “I want this to be a date, thought that it was but I didn’t want to be wrong.” 

Dylan feels another bump under the table and Lawson rubs his shin before Nick whispers something that sounds suspiciously like “you were supposed to ask him out, not just get him to lunch with us dumbass,” and Lawson’s sheepish smile confirms that yes, he was supposed to let Dylan know that this was a date. 

“You can pay on our next date,” Nick assures Lawson, and Dylan can’t help but smile at the thought that they want to have  _ another _ date with him. 

 

3.

Dylan’s excited for tonight, Lawson and Nick promised to take him to the movies and he’s not ashamed to admit that it took him entirely too long to figure out the outfit with the perfect combination of comfy and sexy —he ends up in jeans that Ryan says makes his ass look good and a sweater that might be Nick’s— and judging from the appreciative looks Lawson and Nick give him, he picked the perfect outfit. 

Dylan calls shotgun as soon as they leave his apartment, and gives Lawson and kiss on his cheek in apology for making him squeeze into the back of Nick’s car. Nick puts his hand on the center console as if asking Dylan to hold his hand, and Dylan’s not going to refuse that as long as Nick can safely drive. He’s not surprised to feel Lawson’s hand on top of theirs, when he looks over his shoulder their boyfriend has leaned as far forward as he can and while he doesn’t look comfortable  _ at all _ , Dylan’s not complaining. 

Lawson and Nick take his hands as soon as they get to the theatre, both of them solid walls of heat in the chill of the evening air, and they only let go to argue over who gets to pay for the other two’s tickets. Lawson wins with the compromise that Nick gets to pay for snacks, and Dylan’s offers to pay for anything are quickly shut down with pouts and whines of “but this is a  _ date _ ” from both boys. 

Dylan tries not to roll his eyes when he sees that Lawson’s grabbed a bag of gummy worms while he and Nick were arguing about what size popcorn to order —they’re all growing boys, Dylan reasons, while Nick insists that they don’t need to extra extra large popcorn and Dylan’s not above fluttering his eyelashes at Nick to get his way and he swears he’s not preening while Nick orders the biggest popcorn the theatre has, even if he totally is. 

Lawson’s sheepish smile is enough to make Dylan break out in tiny giggles that he buries in Nick’s shoulder, and if that makes Lawson throw some popcorn at them it’s worth it for the way he comes over and wraps his arms around both of them. 

“Really Law?” Nick laughs, “I thought the one worm would be enough?”

“These ones taste way better,” Lawson pouts, tearing open the bag and shoving a bright orange and blue sour worm in his mouth. “You’re just mad that you guys can’t have any.” 

“I bet you’d give me one if I asked,” Dylan laughs. “This  _ is _ supposed to be a date and it’s only polite to offer your candy to your date.” 

“Dyl’s right, Law,” Nick says, “I don’t want any though, you can have your cavities I’m sweet enough already.” 

Gosh, Dylan really loves these nerds, he just wishes there wasn’t still that lingering doubt that he’s not good enough for them. 

Dylan’s honestly not sure which movie they watch, he’s more focused on the fact that Lawson and Nick made sure that he was in between them and that they made him hold the popcorn because “it’s just going to be easier than Law reaching across you if I put it in my lap,” which means that Dylan got whiffs of his shower gel on their skin every time they reached over to grab a handful of buttery goodness. 

Dylan’s hyper-aware of Nick and Lawson’s hands resting on the armrests on either side of him, he’s not sure when he gives in and puts his hands in theirs but halfway through whatever they’re watching he feels Nick squeeze his hand and Lawson intertwine their fingers and he can’t ignore the way his heart skips a beat feeling them holding his hands.  

Before Dylan knows it, the lights are turning back on and a few people start clapping —the movie’s over, and he still couldn’t tell you what happened, not that Dylan would change anything about the past couple hours— but Lawson and Nick haven’t let go of his hands to start getting up.

“We should probably go,” Dylan hints, wiggling his fingers in case Lawson and Nick are too focused on the credits rolling across the screen. 

“I’m good here,” Lawson whines, “Can’t we just stay here forever, I’m comfy.” 

“Dyl’s right, we should go,” Nick says. 

With that, Lawson regretfully lets go of Dylan’s hand, looking like a kicked puppy the entire time, and the aisles are too small for the three of them to hold hands on the way out but Dylan rectifies the situation as soon as they’re out the door, grabbing Lawson and Nick’s hands and giving them both a squeeze to make sure they’re still ok with holding his hand. They don’t waste any time squeezing back and Dylan hides his smile in Lawson’s arm until they get to the car to head home. 

When Dylan gives both of them chaste kisses good night he can taste the popcorn and sugar on his lips and resists the urge to touch his mouth until he’s safely inside his apartment where they can’t see him. 

4.

Lawson and Nick promised to take Dylan to the zoo when the weather cleared up enough, and since the sun seems to be out today, Dylan’s going to make damn sure they get to the zoo  _ today _ . Dylan texts them both a “please?” with all the animal emojis in his phone and gets a reply of “today?” from Lawson and a “we’ll be at your place in an hour” from Nick. 

Dylan calls shotgun again but this time he gets to hold Lawson’s hand the entire drive to the zoo with Nick leaning forward in the backseat to look over Dylan’s shoulder while he reads them the latest Coyotes post on the Athletic. 

This time Dylan’s quicker than they are at getting to his wallet when it’s their turn to pay for tickets, insisting that “if it’s a date, I should be able to pay too,” and all they can do is blink slowly at him like they can’t think of a rebuke. 

They go down the Africa Trail first, seeing the giraffes, zebras, conures, and various other African animals, Dylan’s sad to see that the elephants must be in a different part of the zoo but that feeling is lost when Lawson climbs up onto a statue of a giraffe and begs his boyfriends to join him. 

“No way man, I don’t think you’re allowed to do that,” Nick says, while Dylan just thinks he looks like a dumbass —an endearing adorable dumbass, but still a dumbass nonetheless.

Dylan indulges his boyfriend and takes way too many pictures, Lawson doing his best to make his face look as dumb as possible while he strokes the giraffe’s neck or pretends like it’s trying to buck him off, and sends them to all their friends, knowing they’ll get a kick out of them. 

They make their way around the park, and Dylan knows he doesn’t have to ask twice to stop at the otter’s enclosure when they reach it. 

The otters have quite the crowd around them, one small child has gone past the ropes and is tapping on the glass of the enclosure and lured one of the otters over to him, where they have a little “talk” that’s really more of the otter looking for food and the child squealing excitedly at the attention. 

The raccoon isn’t a part of the zoo, but that doesn’t stop Lawson from taking a picture of it and telling Dylan to “take a selfie with yourself bro,” which earns him a facewash from Dylan and a shoulder tap from Nick—  they both know Dylan hates that people on tumblr call him raccoon boy but there’s really nothing he can do about it. 

They spend more time than they should watching the coyotes run around their enclosure, joking that the one guarding a small cave is Oliver Ekman-Larsson —”he’s defending the crease,” Nick insists— and Dylan agrees with Nick that the pup play fighting with an older coyote has to be Lawson because of how feisty it is. Dylan makes sure to send videos of “Lawson” to all their friends, ignoring Lawson’s whining of how “it’s not fair, he’s so much stronger than I am, there’s no way I can be better than that.”

They walk around for a bit longer, cooing at the prairie dogs digging in their holes and eating all the grass they can get their paws on and giggling at the tiny spider monkey that’s pressed himself up against the enclosure trying to get a snack from them before Lawson’s stomach rumbles. 

“We should probably get something to eat, all this walking is making me hungry,” Lawson says, as if he’s ever not hungry. 

“Yeah, I could go for some garlic fries. Dyl?” Nick asks, but Lawson’s already leading them to the snack bar so Dylan doesn’t have too much of a say in the matter, not that he’d turn down food. 

The table’s small enough that their knees keep bumping under the table; Dylan’s pretty sure it’s Nick’s foot that keeps constantly nudging his but Lawson’s the one smiling like he’s being sneaky and surely enough when Dylan takes a peak under the table, Lawson’s got Nick’s legs pinned with one of his and his other foot next to Dylan’s, and Dylan’s not going to turn down the footsie challenge. It ends up getting heated quickly, the water glasses end up spilling at how hard Dylan’s fighting to pin Lawson’s foot under his and when he wins Lawson pouts that “it’s not fair, you had both feet I only had one.”

“It’s not my fault you had to keep Merks from playing,” Dylan says. 

“But he would’ve cheated, you’ve seen him he plays dirty,” Lawson pouts, and Dylan has in fact seen Nick play footsie before and knows he always tries to distract Lawson by putting a foot higher than he needs to, so Dylan knows he made the right call pinning Nick’s feet to his seat. 

The fries get eaten soon after the game is over, Dylan of course plays dirty by licking his fingers clean in front of them and seeing if he can get away with it. Judging from Lawson’s slack jawed face and Nick’s smirk they know exactly what reaction he was going for and it makes Dylan’s pulse quicken and cheeks heat knowing that  _ he _ made them look like that. He also knows they won’t do anything about it, they know he’s just doing it to be flirty and not because he wants anything like  _ that _ from them, and he just  _ has _ to take both their hands and give them soft squeezes of affection for it. 

Dylan’s really starting to believe that Lawson and Nick truly do love him, they’ve taken him out on all these incredible dates and never expected anything more from him than his company, even when he’s kissed them goodnight they’ve never pressured him for more than chaste kisses and all the cuddles he’s willing to give them —which, he’s Dylan Strome, he can give a lot of fucking cuddles— and they’re happy with that. They’ve never made him uncomfortable about his sexuality and he loves them for it, he knows that if he ever wants to talk about it they’re willing to listen to whatever he’s got to say, not that he ever actually wants to talk about it but the option is nice and makes him feel warm and fuzzy inside. 

 

_ +1 (Nick) _

Nick’s pretty sure their plan’s working.Dylan seems more openly affectionate with him and Lawson —sure, Dylan’s an affectionate guy, certainly not one to turn down cuddles or hugs with his friends, but this feels different somehow.

They’re trying to figure out what to do that night, Lawson wants to go bowling but Nick hates bowling with a passion so there’s no way that option is winning even if Dylan wants to go —there’s a limit to what he’ll do for his boyfriends, and that crosses it— while Nick just wants to go out for dinner. 

“What d’you wanna do Dyl?” Nick asks. 

“I dunno, can we just stay inside tonight and watch a movie or something,” Dylan pleads, looking soft in Lawson’s hoodie as if that wasn’t going to melt Nick and Lawson’s hearts.  

“If that’s what you want to do, we can do that,” Lawson says, already toeing his shoes off at the front door before heading to the couch and pulling Dylan with him. 

“I’ll grab popcorn,” Nick shouts, already heading to the kitchen and grabbing a giant bowl from the cupboard. 

Nick hears Lawson and Dylan arguing over what to watch and ignores their pleas of “Merks come in here and pick my side” because he’s honestly just happy that they’re going to be spending a couple hours cuddled together on the couch with no one around to bother them. Nick can’t think of a better way to spend the night. 

By the time the popcorn’s ready and Nick joins his boyfriends in the living room, Lawson and Dylan are cuddled together, Dylan resting his head on Lawson’s shoulder while he folds himself so that his knees are resting in the empty spot on the couch. Nick clears his throat and Dylan moves his legs, patting the spot next to him to let Nick know that he should sit there, and he can’t help but gravitate a little closer than he has to to Dylan when he manages to sit down. 

Dylan puts his feet in Nick’s lap, looking over at him to make sure that it’s ok, as if Dylan’s feet could offend him. Nick puts his hands around one of Dylan’s ankle and starts rubbing his thumb against the skin there and gets a bashful smile in return before Dylan puts his head back on Lawson’s shoulder. 

Apparently while he was busy they decided to forgo the movie and just watch the Oilers-Flyers game instead. The Flyers have been playing well ever since the NHL rookie of the month joined the team and Nick can’t help but root for his boyfriends’ friends, and clearly Lawson and Dylan are excited to watch Travis and Carter. Nick knows Dylan’s rooting for Connor too, but this time Dylan swears he has to cheer for Carter instead. 

The game looks like it’s going in the Oilers’ favor but somehow the Flyers keep climbing back into the game, tying it up and forcing overtime where Nolan scores the game winner. Nick thinks he’s going to lose his hearing with how loudly Lawson whoops when Travis scores, but he’s never going to complain when his boyfriend is this happy. 

No one bothers to change turn the NHL app off when the post-game coverage ends and they settle into a comfortable silence and just soak up each others’ presences. 

“This is nice,” Dylan says, breaking the silence after what feels like hours. 

“Yeah,” Lawson and Nick say in unison. 

“I’m glad we stayed in,” Nick says, and it’s the truth, nothing could beat cuddling on the couch and just  _ being _ with his boys. 

“I love you both,” Dylan says, and lets them both kiss him breathless, and Nick can’t help the tears that want to escape at the thought that Dylan finally believes that they really do love him for who he is. 


End file.
